Knowing the Qur’an

Reading any book has a purpose and a method. No good reader will ever read a book without taking cognisanze of its author, its publisher and its date of publication. And to read any new book, the very first point of call is its contents which tell you the topics and the subjects you will read about in it. Then, to have a pre-idea of the entire book in its summary form, before reading it, a good reader mustgo straight not only to the introduction to such a book but also to the foreword written on it. The combination of both will surely give the reader a pretty idea of what the book is all about. This is the shortest means of familiarizing oneself with a new book before going through its chapters.

The word Qur’an means continuous recitation. It is so called because of its inimitable origin which makes it a compelling daily reading throughout the world, across nations and ages. It is the unsurpassed word of Allah not only in the grandeur of its diction and splendour of its rendition but also in the depth of its meaning, substance and profundity.

The revelation of this Book to mankind through an unlettered desert Arab, Muhammad son of Abdullah and Aminah, began in 610 CE. It lasted 23 years (10 years in Makkah and13 years in Madinah). The book contains 114 chapters and 6236 verses (not 6666 verses often taught by most Imams and Alfas). Of these 114 chapters, 86 were revealed in Makkah and 28 in Madinah. But the 28 chapters revealed in Madinah constitute two thirds of the Book. And this is because the Makkah chapters are short and rhythmic while those of Madinah are long and prose-like.

Although the Qur’an was revealed orally, its writing began almost immediately the revelations started. The writing was however done on primitive materials like wood, animal hide, back of trees and others of the like which were then readily available. It was only much later, after the demise of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), that those writings were rendered into a book form. And one of the wonders of recording the Qur’an is the classification of those revelations into chapters and verses by the Prophet himself despite his illiteracy.

The manner of presenting the Qur’anic revelations is simple and direct. It employs neither artifice nor conventional poses. Its main appeal is to man’s intellect, feelings and imagination. It does not only touch the anecdotes of Prophets of different ages and nations as well as the accounts of earlier revelations, it also covers the period from the beginning of creation to the very last Day of Judgment and beyond.

Not only that, Al-Qur’an also gives insight into some natural phenomena like sphericity and revolution of the earth (Q. 39:5) the formation of rain (Q. 30:48); the fertilization of the wind (Q. 15:22); the revolution of the sun, the moon and the planets in their fixed orbit (Q. 36:29-38); the aquatic origin of all creatures (Q. 21:30); the duality of the sex of plants and other creatures (Q. 36:35); the collective life of animals (Q.6:38); the mode of life of the bees (Q. 16:69) and the successive phases of the child in the mother’s womb (Q. 22:5 & 23:14). Yet, the purpose of this Book is not to teach history, astronomy, philosophy or sciences. If any book is ever qualified to called the encyclopaedia of encyclopedias it can only be The Qur’an. More details about these will be written in ‘The Message’ column in The Nation newspaper after Ramadan in sha’Allah!